A Thin Line
by 1tskillingm3
Summary: Nico wakes up in a world of chaos with no memory. There is an over-population problem and the government has started "thinning" all of the lower city inhabitance and moving those who are deemed to be worthy assets the continuation of humanity into the newly cleared places. Not sure how else to survive, Nico joins a resistance group led by Annabeth and Reyna.


The first thing Nico registered was the silence. Not a thing that you would normally think would be something _to_ notice, but here… it was a silence and a stillness that seemed somehow heavy… to ring in Nico's ears… it wasn't just that it was quite but rather an unnatural lack of sound… the sound of the absence of all life. Feeling immensely disturbed, Nico opened his eyes and tried to sit up. Immediately, he whacked his head on something wooden almost directly in front of his face. For a scary moment Nico thought he had gone blind because of the darkness surrounding him. He lay absolutely still for a few moments and squinted about trying to calm his wildly beating heart. Breathing a sigh of relief, he realized that he was just inside some sort of box and that- more importantly- there was small pinpricks of dim light coming through cracks above his head. Immediately after though, he started panicking again.

'How the hell did I get in here?!' he wanted to scream out, but he was rather afraid that he might get an answer.

Carefully, Nico felt out his surroundings with hesitant fingers. The realization of exactly how small the space he was in only furthered his desire to _get out_ as quickly as possible. Bracing himself with his hands, Nico kicked out at the sides of the box. There was a little give, but not as much as he'd hoped there'd be. With a jolt he realized this was because he had been _nailed inside_. Feeling a little sick to his stomach Nico gritted his teeth and began to kick in earnest at the box, focusing on the part of the box that seemed the weakest. Still, the only sound that could be heard was the sound he was making and Nico had to wonder if that really meant there was no one around. Surely if there was, friend or foe, they'd have come to investigate by now wouldn't they? Eventually, he managed to create enough of a gap in the boards to get his other foot wedged into the space and work it the rest of the way open. Even so, he was huffing and puffing by the time he wriggled out of the box and onto the floor.

Nico was met with the sight of a strange and unremarkable room and an even stranger realization; he had no idea if he was supposed to recognize this place. He knew his name was Nico… he still remembered how to speak and his thoughts were in full sentences so it seemed like that part of his mind was undamaged… he could remember random things about himself like the fact that he liked fried food and he preferred staying up late to getting up early… but otherwise his memories felt like wisps of smoke; unclear and impossible for him to latch onto.

Swallowing and taking a moment to calm himself, Nico began to take careful stock of his surroundings. There was very little furniture in the room, though what was there was plain though sturdy. The box he had come from was sitting among several other boxes filled with tools and what looked like blue prints for a plantation of sorts. He noticed that several of the boxes had a logo on them of an odd winged skull and the words 'Di Angelo Co.' printed in loopy lettering. Staring at the words made his head pound painfully so he decided to go investigate the rest of the house. Even though it was so quite, or perhaps _because_ it was so quite, Nico moved very cautiously. For all he knew, whoever had decided that it was a good idea to put him in that box could still be lurking around. Though he kind of wished they were so then at least he might get some answers.

He finally decided what bothered him most about the silence as he closed the door to a simple bedroom and glanced around the sparse kitchen; this was exactly the kind of simple apartment that was designed for a big city yet… it couldn't be the city. No city was this quite.

Nico tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn't budge. On closer inspection he was that it was welded shut. The same was true for the windows. Throwing his shoulder up against these barriers only proved that the door wasn't coming down anytime soon and the only thing that would be breaking would be Nico if he continued. Grudgingly, he returned to the boxes where he'd started and began sorting through the tools. Pocketing some of the more complicated and useful looking ones, Nico grabbed up a simple bolt remover and some pliers. Some internal instinct from whoever he had been before told him that there was still a potential exit around here; he was still breathing easily which meant that there should be some sort of ventilation system around here somewhere. He let his body move almost of autopilot until he had shoved the couch out of the way and located a vent near the floor. It was a bit narrow, but Nico was kind of scrawny so he thought he would probably fit.

He wondered if perhaps he had been some kind of construction person before since he felt somehow familiar with the layout of the general building. Nico quickly discarded that thought however as impossible; his hands were soft and too embarrassingly un-calloused to be the hands of anyone who did much manual labor. Also, the tools he was holding felt clumsy and unfamiliar in his grip as he struggled to remove the grate from the front of the vent. Normally he might worry about getting stuck in tight corners or the vent narrowing somewhere farther down, but he knew for this kind of apartment the vent would just be a straight shot to the outside.

'Why do I know these things?!' he demand of himself, 'How do I know these things?!'

He didn't really expect a response, but it would have been nice.

Like he had expected, the vent had him sliding out into an undignified lump of uncoordinated limbs on prickly gravel outside. However, no previous amount of indistinct knowledge prepared him to see the reason for the unnatural silence. He had been right about the building supposed to be some sort of apartment complex in a big city… Now though the building he was in front of was the only thing standing for several miles around. Rubble piled high from buildings that must have been skyscraper height at once and between the broken stones Nico could see hundreds and hundreds of human bodies.

The world kind of went black after that.

"Percy Jackson, what the _hell_ are you doing?! You were supposed to looking for survivors, not kidnapping elite brats!"

"Reyna, you didn't complain when I rescued your elite girlfriend. And I did go looking for survivors, he was the only one."

"Percy, don't lie to me. There is no way that kid came from the neighborhoods; just look at him! Where were you _really_?"

"Hey! I am not lying! He was just lying passed out on the ground in front of one of the re-appropriation houses! I wouldn't just wander off in the middle of a Thinning-!"

Nico groaned and tried to curl away from the loud voices only to realize that he was currently burying his face in someone's sweaty neck and the voices had stopped talking. Eyes snapping open, Nico flailed and nearly brought both himself and the person carrying him piggyback tumbling to the ground.

"Hey! Careful!" yelped the person holding him barely steadying them before letting Nico slide to the ground, "I guess that means you're awake, huh?"

"I- yeah- who-? What's going on?" Nico managed to get out, his voice feeling gravelly from disuse.

"That's what I want to know." Nico blinked rapidly as a tall dark skinned girl came into focus as she scowled distrustfully at him. To his left sat his supposed "savior" a skinny underfed looking guy with tangled black hair and an apologetic smile, though his bright eyes also held curiosity.

"If I knew I wouldn't be asking." Nico shot back, not in the mood to put up with aggressive rude people after… no, if he thought anymore about what he saw he would throw up all over these people's shoes.

"Okay!" said the guy hurriedly as the girl's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Let's not do anything rash before Annabeth get's back. She'll want to be a part of this decision too!"

"What decision?" asked Nico warily at the same time as the girl muttered something along the lines of not needing to bother this 'Annabeth' with something so stupid.

"The decision where we decide whether or not we think you're a spy or not." Said the guy brightly, "And then of course, what we're going to do with you."

Nico groaned and rubbed his aching head, quietly allowing himself to close his eyes and slump against the wall. It had been a long day. A long day packed with more new things then he thought he had ever experienced at once before, even when he still had his memories. Thankfully, after hours of harsh questioning by the people of this community, his previous rescuer (whom he'd learned name was Percy) came to his aid once more, saying that they should argue more about the matter when Nico wasn't there. Reluctantly, he'd been allowed to leave the interrogation to go to a shabby little room with one bed squeezed into the corner so he could sleep under Percy's cheerful though careful supervision.

Sleep wasn't coming though, despite every part of Nico aching with exhaustion, there was too much to think about. Despite feeling distinctly distrustful of the people holding him captive (a feeling that was apparently shared) he couldn't help but be fascinated and sickened by the whole situation.

Percy had carefully explained, once he realized Nico really had no idea what was going, that the gruesome scene that he'd witnessed earlier that day was what was called a Thinning. Though Nico was still a little unsure of the details- especially because Percy tended struggle with maintaining a single explanation from start to finish without getting sidetracked a million times on the way- Thinning's had apparently started because of a severe over-population issue. Cities had rapidly expanded and expanded until they joined together and created a wide never ending urban society. The small farms that had been shoved to the edges of society vanished entirely. So wealthier countries started to try and import food supplies from other places, but the reality was that this phenomenon was occurring everywhere around the globe. Stricter child-baring laws were attempted for a while, but still the populace levels soared higher still and with no land to move into anymore people started to simply build upwards in skyscrapers packed with the maxim amount of people living in them as possible. Those in power started to panic at that point. They were worried about food shortages, job shortages, inability to govern or keep track of such large populations, the imbalances in sheer amount of carbon dioxide vs. oxygen, and a bunch of other "stuff" as Percy so eloquently phrased it.

About that time countries started screening everyone very carefully. Notes were made on your intelligence, if you had learning disabilities, general creativity and resourcefulness, physical health, beauty, if you carried any genetic imperfections (such as a family history of carrying illnesses) and so on and so forth. Based of the results of those tests you were sorted into different neighborhoods with different standards of living. At first no one thought much of this, other then to grumble about favoritism over things people had no control over. Then the Thinnings had begun. The public version of the Thinnings was that areas would be chosen and the people moved out so that the land could be used for agriculture. "Reclaiming the earth one neighborhood at a time" was the motto. While this was mostly true, it glossed over the fact that having "the people moved out" consisted of sealing all the occupants of a neighborhood in and then slaughtering them. Once they were dead then their bodies were indeed moved(to where no one was sure) and the rubble from all the building was recycled. A few empty buildings were kept intact for the cleanup crews and construction workers to live in while the plantations were built and those who had been designated as valuable for the continuation of the human race were moved onto the land.

It had been in front of one such building that Nico had been found.

"Hey, you doing alright?" inquired Percy pulling Nico out of his thoughts.

"As well as can be expected." Shrugged Nico eyeing the try Percy was carrying curiously.

"I brought us some food." Grinned Percy in response to Nico's unasked question as he kicked off his shoes a clambered on the bed next to Nico to precariously balance the tray of food on his knees.

"Us?" asked Nico hesitantly feeling slightly uncomfortable being so close to a stranger.

"Yeah sure. I mean, you have to eat, I have to eat, so why not eat together?" asked Percy shrugging taking a bite of his food and offering Nico his portion.

"And what if I said I wasn't hungry?" asked Nico hesitantly, which honestly was a half truth considering how his stomach had been behaving after all the things he'd seen and heard today.

"Then I might eat your food. I can't force you after all… well I could but that wouldn't be too much fun for either of us. But I recommend eating; regardless of how skinny you are I am pretty sure you used to be an elite and it'll probably be a difficult transition for you stomach to get used to the way we eat here so the sooner you start getting used to it the less crappy you'll feel." Shrugged Percy around a mouthful of food.

"Why are you so convinced I am one of the Elite?" asked Nico curiously and a bit uncomfortably as he finally grabbed a little bit up bread and started to nibble on it, "Even back in the interrogation, nobody questioned it…"

"Well you obviously have been fairly well fed for one thing, your clothes for another… high quality material like that is only available for those in the top 12 classes of the Elites, also- I don't know- the way you talk? You've got a bit of an accent and sometimes the way you phrase things… It reminds me of Annabeth when she first joined us." Said Percy thoughtfully chewing his food.

"Annabeth?" asked Nico surprised, "I thought she was the leader around here."

"She is." Confirmed Percy proudly, "She's absolutely brilliant. She even used to have a job in Olympus- that's where the first class Elites live by the way- and it's thanks to her that our little resistance movement has lasted so long. Her and Reyna are in charge of everything here. Reyna is also her own brand of brilliant, though she was never an Elite, she knows the inner workings of the neighborhoods better the just about anyone. Between the two of them we've accomplished some amazing things!"

"But if Annabeth is an Elite too then why is everyone so suspicious of me?" asked Nico frowned wondering what he was missing.

"She's- Well most of the Elite probably wouldn't consider her an Elite anymore." Said Percy his face falling slightly.

"What do you mean? I thought being Elite was determined more or less by you genes. How do you lose your "Elitness"?" inquired Nico as he hesitantly reached for more food.

"I think the official story is that the stress of her job as chief Architect got to her and she had a mental breakdown from which she couldn't recover. What really happened was she decided to go visit one of the neighborhoods that she was designing new buildings for and she witnessed part of a Thinning and intervened… Afterwards she marched back to the capital planning to raise a big fuss about what was really going on down in the neighborhoods when she was caught. Annabeth was pretty well known and liked in the powerful circles so they couldn't just say that she had rebelled against the government or people might to get suspicious so the Queen had her declared as insane and… well you kinda got to see what happens to people who aren't viewed as mentally and physically "perfect" in this place." Said Percy darkly.

"How'd she escape?" asked Nico, he realized he had been leaning into Percy slightly as he got wrapped up in the story and quickly corrected his posture.

"Grover and I- he's a good friend of mine who is in charge of a different, more peaceful, resistance that involves the reintegration of people with nature- we lived in the neighborhood that Annabeth stopped from getting completely thinned. When we heard what happened to her we managed to break-in and sneak her out through the sewers. We've been together ever since." Percy explained with a small smile.

"I imagine it was a little more complex then that." Interjected Nico, "If Annabeth was really that high profile then there is no way they'd just let you waltz in there and-"

"Actually that's pretty much what we did." Said Percy with a tinny bit of a giggle that reminded Nico that he wasn't too much older then himself age-wise, "I've got a bit of a… talent for all things aquatic and so Grover and I made their sewage system completely backwash into the area and _gods_ you wouldn't believe how squeamish Elites are when confronted with a floor of shi-"

" _Alright_ Percy, that's quite enough." Interrupted Annabeth making both boys jump slightly, wrinkling her nose at their conversation as she walked through the door with Reyna.

"Oh come on Anna, you _know_ it was brilliant." Grinned Percy setting the tray on the floor. He nudged Nico with his elbow like they were already the best of friends, "Come on Nico, back me up, tell her it was brilliant."

"Uh-" said Nico uncertainly not sure if he wanted to get between the two in any form of argument.

"It was revolting is what it was," said Annabeth grimacing, "though effective. As I've told you many times before."

"More to the point, why are you giving him valuable information on us before you heard our decision?" said Reyna her laced with disapproval.

"Because I can already tell Nico is good guy, I figured you two would come to the same conclusion with a lot more logic sooner or later." Shrugged Percy lazily seeming unfazed by the two women's intimidating presences. Nico might have been impressed if he weren't focusing his energy on keeping his expression neutral and not flushing like an idiot.

"You have good instincts, and I trust them." agreed Reyna with a small but precious smile before her features turned stern again, "But it's bad protocol and I want you to wait next time till our say so before you release information."

"Yes ma'am." Said Percy solemnly and Nico was surprised to see that this time it didn't look like he was joking around.

"And what of you?" asked Annabeth who hadn't taken her eyes off Nico since the conversation began, "You've heard a bit about us and what we do, you've heard a bit about the world where you likely come from. What is it that you wish to do now?"

Nico had not been expecting the question(he figured they just order him to do something) so he felt nervous as all eyes turned to look at him expectantly.

"I… am not sure." Said Nico slowly, glancing up at the two young women in front of him through his bangs uncertainly and taking courage from the steady warmth of Percy sitting close by, "What I saw earlier at the Thinnings was awful and unforgivable, and I think I want to help you guys stop this… but I don't have any memories, as you know so… the only knowledge I have on the matter is from you guys, and even though I believe you and I think your cause is a good one… I can't just pledge myself to something knowing so little about it, and- and if that's what you're looking for me to do now to prove my trust worthiness I don't think I can do that. I need to see this world for myself before I can make any sort of decision."

Absolute silence greeted Nico's statement and he forced himself to maintain eye contact even though every part of him wanted to shift awkwardly and look everywhere in the room except for at the people in front of him. After a moment Reyna stepped forward. To Nico's surprise, she did not draw her weapon or threaten him, but instead took off her glove and offered him her hand to shake.

"Nico, was it?" she asked formally as she grasped his hand in a firm grip, "I think we'll get along fine, you and I. If you are a friend, I'll be glad to have someone like you on our side. If you're an enemy… well then I'll be honored to fight against such a worthy opponent."

"I- oh, thanks?" said Nico uncertainly.

"You're so dramatic," sighed Annabeth fondly poking Reyna in the shoulder, before turning approving grey eyes onto Nico, "I must say I agree though; that type of caution in these sorts of situation is very wise. It will serve you well."

"I was just stating the obvious." Mumbled Nico, embarrassed by the praise.

"That you think that it is the obvious speaks more of your character the many a testimony." Agreed Reyna watching Nico with an interest that wasn't half so hostile as before, though it was still cautious.

"Of course we can't just let you wander freely through our ranks, I hope you understand." Stated Annabeth unapologetically, though not condemningly. Nico liked her; the absolute no-nonsense way she stated things was very refreshing in a situation of such uncertainty, "If you're willing, I would like for you to do some investigation on the re-appropriation houses under the supervision of Percy. You can't do a whole lot of damage there if you do really turn out to be an enemy, but if you can discover a good way to identify which locations will be selected during a Thinning then we can develop strategies accordingly."

"And if I say no?" asked Nico, already guessing the answer.

"Then you'll be confined to this room under 24/7 supervision." Replied Reyna simply.

"Sounds like that'll be happening anyway." Commented Nico.

"The supervision? Naturally, but it won't be quite as invasive or awkward if it's Percy, or one of the others that we deem qualified." Shrugged Annabeth with a sly smile, "You seem the type to like your space, I figured you'd prefer this arrangement."

Nico grimaced, she was right. He was already itching to be away from people so he could just breathe more easily.

"… I don't know how helpful I'll be, but yes I suppose I would be willing to do that." Agreed Nico cautiously.

"No offence Annabeth, but why is that assignment important? Shouldn't we be concentrating on getting refugees out of the neighborhoods?" asked Percy frowning slightly, Nico tried not to be so hyper aware of the man's shifting beside him and focus on this proposition, but his nerves were still fried with anxiety and this discussion wasn't helping.

"Percy, I know you're extremely familiar with me, but I ask you again to not question me in front of newbies." Sighed Annabeth rubbing her temple slightly. Nico thought he could sort of sympathies with her exasperation a bit as he watched Percy stubbornly lift his chin. Nico wanted to assure both Annabeth and Reyna that they already had gained some respect for them and was aware of the way their rank demanded to be treated even if Percy did address them so casually, but he wasn't sure how on earth communicate such a thing without sounding like and idiot.

"Nico says he came from inside one of the re-appropriation houses which means that they're not completely sealed off like we thought before. It also means that there might be another way to save those who are not able to escape the neighborhood's before the Thinnings begin." Said Reyna shortly before things could get too awkward.

"Ah," said Percy, his expression clearing, "I see, that makes a lot of sense."

"Now, if that'll be all, we shall leave you too your rest." Said Annabeth, not so subtly closing the conversation to any more questions Percy or Nico might have on the matter.

"I am staying with Nico, right?" asked Percy lightly tilting his head. Nico felt his stomach drop slightly for whatever reason.

"Until we determine that he's trustworthy, yes, you need to stay with Nico." Agreed Reyna with a twitch of a smile as she took in Nico's discomfort.

"We'll have Leo drag another cot in here for you." Promised Annabeth.

"No worries, I'll just bunk with Nico." Said Percy, his eyes alight with mischief.

"No." came the immediate response from all three other members of the room, though with different levels of emotions.

"Ah, well, it would've been warmer." Grinned Percy, and Nico realized with slight horror that he had just been teasing him.

"Eyes only, Percy." Annabeth chided, though she was laughing.

"If he get's _too_ obnoxious, or if you think he's over-stepping his bounds, just let us know and we'll assign Frank and Hazel to guard you instead." Reyna informed Nico seriously, though she too seemed to be caught somewhere between amusement and fond exasperation. That seemed to be the general reaction to Percy. One that Nico was rather annoyed to find he was starting to share.

"Yeah… Thanks." Mumbled Nico, still trying to contain his embarrassment. If this was next portion of his life would be he hoped that he gained a little more composure soon or he would be in danger of spontaneous combustion via intense embarrassment.

Still though, he reflected as he climbed under his covers for the night, Percy having stayed a comfortable and respectful distance from him despite his playful flirting(if it was flirting? He wasn't entirely sure if Percy was quite self aware enough to intentionally flirt), he had been awfully lucky so far. Despite the manner and situation that he had awoken in earlier that day, despite the sickening horror of what was happening all around in these neighborhoods… despite having no memory or clear sense of identity, he felt immensely grateful to these people for taking him in- even if they didn't trust him fully. And though he spoke the truth when he said he wasn't sure if he would join this resistance group ultimately, he also knew he wouldn't be able to just sit by and allow these horrific things be done to innocent people.

He would fight back, though he might do it in his own special way.


End file.
